A North Texas teacher was arrested this week for allegedly sexually assaulting an eighth-grade student.
David Goggins, 32, was booked at Tarrant County jail on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a minor after a former student of his alleged that he raped her in his classroom at Marine Creek Middle School, according to WFAA.
Goggins last worked at the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD campus in the 2021-2022 school year. He has since gone on to teach at Northwest ISD’s Gene Pike Middle School but is now on administrative leave pending an investigation into the allegations. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation.
Officials at both school systems informed students’ parents about Goggins’ arrest. No other victims have been reported so far.
The arrest affidavit obtained by WFAA indicates that the victim had allegedly told officials with the Alliance for Children that Goggins assaulted her on a desk for approximately 10 minutes. She had reportedly gone into his classroom after school had ended to retrieve her jacket, which a friend had left there. Goggins allegedly attacked her after telling her about “needing to relieve some stress” after not sleeping well since the birth of his child.
Goggins, who has been released on a $250,000 bond, denied the allegations on Thursday in a statement issued by his legal representatives at Varghese Summersett.
“David and his family were shocked by his arrest and the accusations against him. He has an exemplary record as a teacher and is highly regarded by his students and colleagues, who are equally baffled by these claims,” the Fort Worth-based law firm stated, according to The Dallas Morning News.
“We are conducting our own investigation in the hopes of uncovering the real motivation behind these allegations. We welcome the opportunity to defend David and would ask the public to withhold judgment until we have all the facts,” the firm said.
Dozens of reports of misconduct have been made against teachers and other school-based staff in Texas this past year. These have ranged from allegations of rape to soliciting sex from minors online. Others have been accused of possessing child pornography.
As covered by The Dallas Express, the advocacy group Citizens Defending Freedom recently published a report indicating that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) allegedly mishandles accusations of teacher misconduct, leading to them being possibly under-reported. Although Texas law requires the state to permanently revoke the certification of any educator proven to have had an inappropriate relationship or sexual contact with a student or minor, the report indicated that many such offenders received lesser sanctions from the TEA before resuming teaching.
Additionally, according to the activist group, a good chunk of TEA data was incomplete, such as cases on 411 individuals at Dallas ISD that had no case codes, no investigation dates, and no dispositions.
